novalab

This fun question is for the veteran cruisers who've sailed with Royal Caribbean for 20+ years. I would enjoy and appreciate hearing anecdotes or stories about what cruising with Royal Caribbean was like back then?

 

Some questions I have are: Were passengers more well-dressed and/or behaved? Was the general atmosphere more refined or even stately? Was there more passenger interaction? Were two-tops as popular then as they are today? What shipboard activities do you miss? What venues or customs have gone the way of the dinosaur? What was Labadee like in 1986?

Our first cruise with RC was back in 1998 when our DD was 11. We sailed on one of the 2 largest ships sailing the Caribbean at that time, Majesty Of The Seas. Her sister ship Monarch OTS was the other large cruise ship. We sailed the Western Caribbean itinerary back when Labadee did not have all the extras that it does now. We actually had to tender into the port. There was just the main beach and from there you could walk to Dragons Breath to watch the ocean spout up like a geyser. No cabanas, just umbrellas and there was just one outdoor dining venue for lunch. No souvenir stands.

We dressed up each evening for dinner in the MDR. We all sat at large tables with at least 6 other people (don't remember if there were tables for 2). There weren't very many children on our sailing (July) but they did have a nice children's program that our daughter really loved.

Passengers were very well behaved on our cruise. At the time, it seemed passengers were more friendly & polite overall. Bingo was a very big deal. We only played it once, during the last night of the cruise. It was a coverall game & we actually won! We had to share the $10,000 pot with one other person. They paid us in cash & because it was the last night, they had already cleared out their safes (no in-room safes just a main one at Customer Service) so I had to carry all that cash around in my little evening purse all night!

They had a wonderful midnight buffet. We took lots of pictures but ate very little. We thought the food was very good. No specialty restaurants.

It was a little different back in 1998. Fun thread! Thanks for starting it!

Thank you so much for posting your review! DD & I will be sailing on Oasis next April. Love your pictures!

Ask your TA to send you Royal's Guest Copy of your booking confirmation. The OBC should show up there if it came from Royal.

 

If the OBC came from the TA, then that's totally between you and the TA.

Thank you Bob for answering this question from the OP. I was wondering the same thing until I read your post. Pulled out my RC Booking confirmation for our 2016 Oasis cruise & sure enough, our OBC is printed right on there.

Does anyone know when they will post the 2106 Pacific Northwest Cruise Schedule? All I can find is 2015. Thank you.

DD & her BF have a 2016 (late Sept) Pacific Coastal 8 nighter booked on Explorer. They were able to make their reservations for this cruise last month. She went through our TA so not sure if it is on RC's site.

(Oops...just noticed the orig. post was back in 2014...well anyway...Explorer will be out west in 2016 for anyone interested)

Late April & early May...those are the only times that we cruise the Caribbean!:D The weather is lovely & the crowds have died down (most Spring Breaks are over by this time).

In post #3 above, Sherri914 posted an RCI email address to which to send a request like this.

Thank you! I missed that entirely:o

Planning my September 27 trip and would like to see the menus for each day. In particular the third night which we are in San Juan late.

 

Does anyone know where I might find this. Only my second RCI cruise but I know the menus have names each day. Right?

Here is a site that shows the menus (not sure of the order for your cruise). They show the Arugula Menu :)

http://www.thecaptainslog.org.uk/Menus/MenusMainPage.html

We are sailing on Jewel in October & I would like to request a table for 2 for DH & myself on the rail. We are signed up for MTD. Who would I speak to pre-cruise to make our request?

Thanks for any help & advice!

The price of the drink of the day varies. Lately, I've seen it between $6 and $8.

That's very reasonable compared to the new prices being currently charged. We don't drink enough to make purchasing a package worthwhile. Will be sticking with the Drink of the Day offerings and if we just have to have a Lava Flow or some other fun creamy/slushy drink, we'll order a mocktail.

Thanks again Bob!

Royal did away with a price drop for getting the drink of the day without the souvenir glass. Same price with or without.

 

Just to show you Royal's lack of consistency, if you have a beverage package, and want the drink of the day, they will charge you extra if you want the souvenir glass. But no discount if you don't want the glass.

Thank you Bob! What do they charge now for the drink of the day? Any difference because it is an Oasis Class ship? Wouldn't surprise me if there was:rolleyes:

Is there still a Drink of the Day on Oasis? If there is, what is the cost without the souvenir glass, if that is an option? I've given up trying to take those souvenir glasses home.

Thanks!

With so many repeat cruisers on this thread I'm curious about your first cruise.

 

1. What do you remember most about your first cruise? What made it special?

The ship seemed HUGE! (it was Majesty OTS :0) On our first day at sea we saw a waterspout off in the distance & dolphins following our ship. Coming from the desert Southwest, it all seemed so magical!

2. What makes you keep cruising?

I think it is the perfect vacation break from a very stressful career. Sometime after my 3rd cruise everything just 'clicked' & I realized I was hooked (excuse the pun please:p)

 

3 What is it about RCI that makes you return to their ships time and again?

Tried another cruise line while our daughter was small. I found myself coming home from those cruises more wound up & irritated than when I left for vacation! Not good. Tried another RC cruise & realized that I had found what I was missing in the 'other' cruiseline. Loved the ships, the staff, the passengers in general. I came home relaxed, rested & sad that my vacation was over. To me, that was a sign of a good vacation worth waiting all year for!:D

Please see above in red:)

PS: I would like to add that winning a cover-all Bingo game on Majesty on our last night at sea was a BIG thrill! My share of the pot (had to split it with one other passenger) was $5,000 in cash!LOL I immediately booked our 2nd cruise the moment we got home. This was back in 1998.

Explorer is finished with her dry dock. She got a Flowrider, Izumi, Chops, and Giovanni's Table.

Great!!! Thank you!

I know Explorer is going in for her referb/dry dock sometime this year (saw that on RC's site) but that is all I know about her (other than she is in the same class as Mariner which I have sailed on a few years back).

Does anyone know what new features she will be getting, restaurants & ? Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

I mentioned DH birthday on our Quantum cruise but it got ignored this time. On Oasis, a 25th anniversary cake was remembered. Guess it works only sometimes.

Similar experience on Allure last year. Our TA had specifically stated that our cruise was a birthday cruise for our daughter when she booked this cruise for us. It was also noted on our Chops reservations for DD's Birthday dinner. The matre-d (sp?) of Chops confirmed it with me when we arrived. Unfortunately, that was as far as it went. Two & a half hours later we left to celebrate elsewhere. I know I should have said something but didn't, which is my fault.

Agree that it is a sometime thing with RC, especially if the servers are really busy. Be proactive if you celebrate. Don't assume it will just happen just because it is noted on your cruise docs or specialty dining reservations.

Awwww....the number of sea lions has greatly diminished since I was last there on Mariner :( Did the Captain blow the ships horn when you all went under the Golden Gate Bridge? Capt. Johnny did several times on our Mariner cruise. Everyone cheered..both on the bridge & on the ship:D Wonderful memories.

Have fun today in San Fran!!!

Judy (it is storming, hailing & flooding in areas here in Las Vegas today...even snowing up on our mountains, in May!!:eek:)

I know...we are pretty active, aren't we? :D;):p

:D:D....87 or is that 89 on our M & M already?:eek:

Yeah Bill & Marie! A pre-view live review of a PC Jewel cruise! As you know, we will be joining you Oct. 3 but for now, this is just the sort of thing I was hoping someone would do....to get us more in the mood!LOL:D Like our Oct. 3 group really needs that (not!):rolleyes:

Thanks for taking us along with you both!!

Judy

DD & I sailed Allure last April. It was our BEST cruise to date! We loved the Oasis class so much that we decided to book Allure's sister for 2016. Since we sailed in April, after Spring Break was over for most of the country, we did not experience crowds or long waits for the elevators (we also like to walk off calories so we did utilize the stairs quite a bit). The only problem that we had with this class of ship was the frustration we felt when we realized 7 days would not be enough to experience all she had to offer:rolleyes: That's one of the reasons that we are doing a repeat cruise. Only this time on Oasis.:D BTW, back when this class of ship was first introduced, we both said we would pass on the 'floating resort'. Glad we gave it a try.

Flights for our trip should open up in the next couple of months. I'm wondering if we were to book a flight out of FLL for later in the day, what do you do with your luggage? I see that there are Fort Lauderdale shore excursions offered so I assume this is an option...or we could just head to a mall or something for a few hours. But again, what do you do with your luggage? Obviously the ship itself wouldn't hold your bags as they are getting ready for the next cruise.

Last April, DD & I sailed on Allure. We too had a late flight. We booked a ships excursion, while on board, for the early morning on departure day. The tour was a FLL inter coastal & city tour. It was actually a very nice tour as it was part bus & part boat (large boat, 2 story with a snack stand). On departure morning we met at the tour desk on the Promenade (early before the self assist passengers were let off). From there we took our luggage through the terminal, through customs & were directed to our tour bus that was waiting for us outside of the terminal. Our luggage was stowed on the bus with us in the luggage compartment.

When the tour was finished, around 12:30, the bus took us to the airport (there were 2 buses on this tour, one for FLL airport & the other for Miami...it was important that you followed directions & got on the right bus). We were dropped off, along with our luggage, at the curb side check in counter of the airline that we were flying home on. They promised us that we would be dropped off at the airport no later than 1:30 pm (we were there at 1:00)

It worked out really well for us.

The food is quite good (the sushi even more so). The menu looks very sparse, but there are plenty of non-sushi options and you could have several "proper evening meal" experiences without repeats.

 

Last year on Allure, I ate there three times over two weeks. See this link for the first. Here is the second. And this is the third. Hopefully, that will give you a better idea of what the menu items are like. Keep in mind that you'll get complimentary edamame and mizo soup with whatever else you order.

 

Personally, I love the place. As long as you are OK with Japan/Asian-style dining, you should do just fine without sushi.

I ditto this. Last year DD & I sailed on Allure. DD loves Asian/Japanese food and has become quite the epicurean on the subject. Since I know absolutely nothing about this type of food (I don't count Panda Express:rolleyes:), I left it up to her to pick out my dinner. I had the hotrock beef dinner and DD chose a non-raw meat roll for me (can't remember what it was called) & both were delicious. DD said her dinner was excellent (she ate the adventurous/exotic stuff:p)

Wish we had eaten there more often. Will definitely be making multiple reservations for Izumi on our Oasis 2016 cruise!

Thank you for your review on Jewel! DH & I will be sailing on her in October when she visits the West Coast. This will be our first Radiance class ship. Our TA loves RC's Radiance class ships & says they are her favorite. That's a pretty strong thumbs up!

Hi Chris!! It's been a long time since our Allure cruise. I've been waiting for your Quantum Live Report! I still have a way to go until my next cruise so yours will have to tide me over until October:D

Judy

So this is my first Royal Caribbean cruise. You know we all have a favorite must food on a cruise. So tell me what is yours and if you have a picture that is even better. I want to make sure I don't miss anything good to eat on FOS. :)

They have the BEST cookies!:D

I just reserved Chops for my Honeymoon cruise on the Freedom. Now I am rethinking it.

 

So, what are your all's suggestions for a special meal to get away from the MDR for one night that is worth it?

Our last two dinners at Chops (2 different cruises) were very disappointing. We will not return for another. We did love Giovanni's and ate there several times for lunch & dinner.